Twitter Reactions: Jonny Bairstow's heroics helps England complete a stunning run-chase

England continue to ride on their outstanding form as they completed the second biggest run chase in their ODI history (359). They chased down a 364-run target in Bridgetown against Windies a few months back, which was their highest successful run-chase ever. This time around, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy did the job for the hosts as Pakistan lose yet another game despite scoring over 350.

Batting first, Pakistan lost their hero from the previous match Fakhar Zaman very early in the innings with Chris Woakes doing the damage. Woakes struck again in the powerplay to remove Babar Azam, which kept Pakistan on hold. They desperately needed a partnership from here and they got it from Imam-ul-Haq and Haris Sohail.

The duo added 68 runs for the third wicket to help the visitors gain some momentum. Imam completed a brilliant fifty and kept roaring on after reaching the landmark. After Sohail’s dismissal, Imam took charge of the innings with Sarfraz chipping in with a decent second fiddle knock. Pakistan’s innings took off when Asif Ali and Imam got together, who smashed the English bowlers to all parts.

Imam completed a brilliant hundred and Asif completed a quickfire fifty as the duo added 125 runs for the fifth wicket. Imam got out after scoring 151 off 131 balls as the Pakistani tail gave a proper finish to the innings. They registered 358 runs on the board, which happens to be their 8th highest total registered in ODIs. Woakes chipped in with 4/67 for the hosts while other batsmen got hammered apart.

Roy and Bairstow hammer Pakistan away

Pakistan were pretty poor on the field, having dropped Jason Roy very early in the innings. Shaheen Afridi was the culprit, who dropped an absolute dolly and the English openers capitalized on it big time. Roy and Bairstow went onto the carnage mode very quickly and after the 13th over, their scoring rate was above 9.

Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow competed toe-to-toe for runs and completed half-centuries around the same time. After adding 159 runs in just 17.3 overs, Roy was dismissed for a 55-ball 76, but Bairstow continued the onslaught alongside the calm presence of Joe Root. These two added 75 runs for the second wicket and Bairstow managed to complete his 7th ODI hundred in the process.

Pakistan got blown away well before Bairstow was dismissed for a 93-ball 128. They did get another wicket soon of Joe Root, but Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes played some street-smart cricket to get them close the finish line. Morgan had to come in when Stokes ran himself out with the target just a few runs away, but there were no further jitters thanks to Moeen Ali’s 36-ball 46.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to this outstanding run-fest in Bristol

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